Saint Matthew and the Angel
Saint Matthew and the Angel, colorised reproduction. | |
---|---|
Italian: San Matteo e l'angelo | |
Artist | Caravaggio |
Year | 1602 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 295 cm × 195 cm (116 in × 77 in) |
Location | Destroyed in 1945 |
Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602) is a painting from the Italian master Caravaggio (1571–1610), completed for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. It was destroyed in Berlin in 1945 and is now known only from black-and-white photographs and enhanced color reproductions.
Style
Caravaggio was known for painting very realistically, using models instead of standard convention and idealization.
History
Saint Matthew and the Angel was completed in 1602. A part of the collection of the former
Commission
Saint Matthew and the Angel was created as a commission for the Contarelli Chapel. Caravaggio was previously commissioned to paint two scenes of the saint's life, and after the patrons were satisfied with them, a third was commissioned.
The Contarelli Chapel was
Comparison
The comparison is not perfect because the only images available of the lost Saint Matthew and the Angel are black and white photographs that were taken before World War II. The lost painting showed Saint Matthew as poorly groomed, with dirty feet. Although this was the style of Caravaggio, the church leaders thought it was too crude and did not want to have what looked like a peasant hanging in their sacred altarpiece. In addition, they thought that this Matthew did not match the other two paintings that Caravaggio had already done. It was apparently disconnected and therefore had no place with the others. The second piece keeps true to the same subject, but with a few changes. Matthew looks more like the other two Matthews in the altar. The Saint is now more serious and in control in the presence of the angel. Instead of being fully controlled by the angel, Saint Matthew is only encouraged by the angel in the second one. He is working more on his own accord. Nevertheless, the surviving version loses the touching directness of the first - the childlike angel patiently guiding the Saint's hand on the page as though he were the child.
See also
- Artistic scandal
- List of paintings by Caravaggio
Notes
References
- Hess, Jacob. "Chronology of the Contarelli Chapel." The Burlington Magazine 93, no. 579 (June 1951): 186–201.
- Spear, RE. "Caravaggio." The Burlington Magazine 147, no. 1223 (2005): 140–142.
- Thomas, Troy. "Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of Saint Matthew." The Art Bulletin 67, no. 4 (December 1985): 636–652.
- Vodret Adamo, Rossella and Sinebrychoffin Taidemuseo. Caravaggio: The Mystery of the Two Saint Francis in Meditation. Milano:Silvana, 2009.
External links
- Media related to Saint Matthew and the angel by Caravaggio (destroyed) at Wikimedia Commons